Community Retreat

This year our annual retreat (August 3-10) was given by Fr James Palmigiano, OCSO, of Saint Joseph's Abbey, Spencer, MA.

We were delighted by Father James' conferences, which were drawn from his own experiences and deeply-held convictions, on the theme of learning to accept and delight in our poverty and emptiness in the face of God's overflowing love.  Our wounds - our holes, are the way in for a God who delights in being small, hidden and ordinary with us.  Confusion, fragmentation and upside-downness is grace and a wonderful opportunity to welcome God's mercy into our lives and pass it on to others.  One thing that stands in the way of our letting God be God for us is our thoughts - whether about ourselves or others - which imprison us in fear, sadness, rage or jealousy.  But with God's grace, we have the power to say to the Evil One , "Begone!  I refuse to be mastered by my rage."  God in Christ invites us to live with him a life of compassion and non-retaliation to make his kingdom tangible here and now.